Our Clarissa and Mary explains it all

This is a compliation of the funny things Clarissa has said and asked me.
I am also going to start adding stories of Mary's cuteness here.

7/5/11

Clarissa asked me what something was called, while we were at the College for Stephanie to fill out some paper work, and I said "I don't know" she exclaimed "You're the daddy. You're supposed to know anything"..... If only I could get that on tape for later

Clarissa is growing up. She can swim reasonably well without a life jacket and now insists on bathing alone without her younger sister. Mayrann is not happy about the loss of her bathing buddy. She will still bathe with Mary too but for awhile she didn’t want to

6/3/11

Today when Clarissa got up later than usual she said “I slept long. I wanted to finish my dream” When I asked her what her dream was about she said “I forgot”

Clarissa says “I love you one hundred” Something I think she picked up from her Kindergarten Teacher

Clarissa asked me if when she turns six will she have to leave the family. I told her yes she was getting pretty old and it was time for her to move on. She didn’t like the idea. I asked her if she wanted to stay in the family and she said yes. The next day she asked if when she turned seven if she would have to leave. I told her no. She asked if when she turns eight if she would have to leave. I told her no again and then told her she will always be a part of our family. She was happy with that.

1/13/11
Tonight as she was pretending to read her scriptures in bed she said
"The big star was made when Jesus was born. The small ones are for everybody else"

12/10

A game that she and I play involves pretending that we are going to eat the other one's arm. She doesn't let me do it very much but I let he do it to me as she wishes.
I started the idea and she has enjoyed it.
It involves saying:
"I am going to eat your arm"
and then pretending that you are putting condiments and other things on that person's arm.
Such things as ketchup, mustard, relish, pickles, mayo, buns, etc. all the while telling the person what you are putting on their arm to devour with it.
Then whomever is doing it goes through the motions of pretending to eat the arm
by going "nibble nibble, num num num" and all of that.
The person who had their arm eaten off must then put it behind their body or pull it out of their sleeve and put it inside their shirt and it must remain there until (usually Clarissa) helps put it back in place. Its fun and we sometimes take turns.

I saw Clarissa sucking on her thumb. I asked her if it tasted good. She said "yes"
I asked her what it tasted like and she exclaimed "ME!"

My mother, her grandmother has an extensive collection of nativity scenes. One is toylike and she lets the kids play with it. When she wants to play with it she will ask her grandmother "May I play with your Jesus Toy?"

She wanted to see my belly as I was laying on the couch so I oblidged her. She laughed and said she wanted a hairy belly too. When she gets old enough to date I might want her to have one too. Not that I'm too worried about that kind of thing. I am sure we will raise her right... and the bear traps I set outside her window and the guns I will clean on the table in front of whomever she brings over will help with that too.
This same night she told me she wished she was a boy, I asked her why, then she changed her mind. Then she said she wished she had a boy's name so I asked her what name she wanted. She said "I wish my name was Zane. Zane Preston" The next day I found out there is a boy in her class named Zane. Now I wonder why she said this.
When I asked her about being a boy later she said she was glad she was a girl

11/28/10
Today she told me I was the best daddy in the whole world

November 2010
One morning Clarissa asked me, as she has once before, "Daddy, where is your smile?" I think she was trying to cheer me up or something but I said "I don't know" Then she laughed and said "Its right here! I"m sitting on it!" She was hiding it from me she told me. That did help to cheer me up. Then she told me we should play hide and seek with it and that now it was in the "Fridgerator"

One night she told me "Daddy, I love you with my brain"

Clarissa loves to go to school and her Kindergarten teacher (Mrs. Shella Brubaker) loves how expressive and imaginative Clarissa can be.
Clarissa got in trouble for scribbling on a classmate's chair and desk. When told to go to timeout or to no-man's land as it is called in class Clarissa went and covered her face and was upset. When Mrs. Brubaker came to talk to her about what she did and asked Clarissa why she was so upset Clarssia said "I don't want to be in Snowman's land"

Clarissa also likes to play with "Narbles" (marbles) and "Maganets" (Magnets)


Some time ago I introduced the "got you on the bum last game" which is a form of tag that my brother Brian and I played when we were very young. It consists of smacking the other person on the bum when they aren't looking and annoucing "got you on the bum"
Clarissa took this to the next level on her own and one day while we were outside she pointed at a red car and said "Daddy, what's that?" I turned to look, thinking she really wanted to know and thats when she smacked me on my bum. Once I realized what she had done I turned back to look at her in shock but she just laughed and ran away from me. She continued to do this from time to time and would only rarely slip up and let me get her on it.

October 2010.
Clarissa told me she can't wait to grow up so that she can spank everyone's butts.
Maybe we all deserve it.

Often when trying something new for the first time she will exclaim "I love it! Its my favorite!" Sometimes before even trying it or watching it.

She likes to sing and make up her own songs. One she has done is, as far as I can tell, called "I'm a gummi bear" much to the tune of "I'm a Barbie Girl" (for those who remember it)
and it consists of singing "I'm a gummi bear, a gummi gummi bear. I'm a gummi bear, a gummi gummi bear"
Incedentally, and perphaps I shouldn't so readily admit it, her favorite song right now is Lady GaGa's "Pokerface" which she calls "Cocopace"

Her older brother Pearce recieved a remote control car for his birthday. Clarissa loves to play with it and she calls it a "troller car" (controller car)

When we went Trick or Treating this year we told her to go up to a house and say
"Trick or Treat" and that the people would give you candy.
She did as we instructed and afterward exclaimed "IT WORKED!"

I was playing a game that isn't designed for little kids. She asked if she could play it, I told her
it was a "Daddy's game" and she said "Does that mean I need to be older to play it?" I told her
yes. She asked me "How do I get older?" I told her it just happens and be patient. She watched
me for about a half hour and then said "Am I old enough now?"
The next morning she asked me if she was older now and I said yes you are one day older. Again she asked if she was old enough now and my heart warmed. She is quite the charmer.

I was carrying her across my parents front yard this past winter. My dad had the let the horses out to munch on what grass remained. As we walked past the black horse named "Bandit", Clarissa pointed at its posterior and said to me "That horse has a butt!" (who taught her that word?)
A few months ago (early 2010) I was sitting and reading a book. Clarissa comes up to me with a monster puppet on her hand. She holds it towards me and then she says to me in a low monster voice "Hello Kirk" I looked up at her and said "I'm daddy. You're supposed to call me daddy." She moves the monster puppet aside and says in her own voice "No, I call you daddy." she moves the puppet back in front of her and again in the monster voice says "But the monster calls you Kirk" I asked her "Who told you to call me that?" She replied in her own voice again "Thats what mommy calls you"
A couple nights ago (early May 2010) Clarissa was set to go to bed along with her sister (they share a room) but she was very upset and distraught. I came to investigate and told her to calm down and to go to sleep. She sobbingly told me "But daddy!! Mary has two blankets (she held up 2 fingers) but the red one is missing! " She insisted that I go find it and restore it to her proper owner, her sister Mary. My heart melted.
One night as I put her to bed she said she didn't want to go to sleep because of the monsters. I told her that I had gotten rid of them all. She asked me"Did you put them in the garbage?"I had a good laugh and told her that yes I did just that.
Again a couple months ago I was sitting and reading a book or something and she comes up to me "Daddy, I want some ice cream please" I thought about it and said "Riska (her nickname) we don't have any. Its all gone" She put her hand on her hip and in her best exasperated or "duh" tone said "Daddy, go to Wal-Mart"
I couldn't help but laugh
When she saw a rainbow one time she told me that she saw a unicorn climbing it and that must be where it lives.


Mary's Section
Mary has a very different personality than Clarissa sometimes and a very different way of speaking.
I think hers is more akin to "clustering" that is assigning secret, grouped, or even coded meanings to things.
One example is that to her any animal that has four legs that is not a dog or a cat is in fact a cow and that to attempt to correct her is to make her very upset and she will defiantly deny that what you say is true.
The horses that her Grandpa Preston keeps are to her, cows and she is adamant that they are cows and not horses.
If she tells you she wants a cup, she doesn't want something to drink, she instead wants to go play in the bathtub. She says this because when she is in the tub getting washed up she gets to play with a cup and a cup is used to rinse out her hair so by association she says "cup" when she means bathtub.
Because she has watched (repeatedly) a "Barbie" movie where Barbie is a surfer girl that gets turned into a mermaid she has used the phrase (and I do mean phrase in her case) "Barbie Doll" to mean a wide range of things.
During the summer when the girls went swimming they used inflatable whales. Mary called hers a "Barbie Doll" because there was a whale in said Barbie movie.
If she asks for a "Barbie Doll" while inside she isn't asking you for a toy, she is asking you for a drink. A "Capri-Sun" specifically because the ones we had at the time had scenes of the beach on them (sand, beach towels, umbrellas, etc) and by association again she called them "Barbie Dolls" so you can see how this can be frustrating because certain code phrases that she uses that have nothing to do with the item or thing in question but to her that is how she identifies what she wants and goes about requesting them. She becomes very frustrated and upset when a grownup doesn't understand what she wants.


One time, this Christmas time in 2010 I took her with me to check the mail. We have a large Santa Claus on our mailbox. She saw it and said "Look Daddy, a Ho Ho!"

1/12/11
Mary got something on her arm at dinner tonight (ketchup I presume) so she came to tell me she had a "yucky" and when I didn't move fast enough to resolve her issue she decided to take the sleeve of my shirt and try to wipe it off herself. I guess she thought daddy could take care of her problem. One way or another.

I like Laura Ingraham

The title says it all.
Despite what people say about her I still do.

What this guy here says about her seems to be an attempt to discredit her, but to me it only endeers her all the more to me.
There are a couple exceptions, such as what she did in college. But remember she was young and in college and lots of people do dumb things there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rory-oconnor/laura-ingraham-right-wing_b_106034.html

Laura Ingraham: Right-Wing Radio's High Priestess of Hate
"The following is an excerpt from Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio by Rory O'Connor with Aaron Cutler (AlterNet Books, 2008).
Laura Ingraham is ... different. Not only is Ingraham younger than many other conservative radio personalities (at 45, she's more than a decade from Limbaugh's cohort), and the only female among them, but she also brings to the airwaves a snarky brand of aggressive humor fused with an attack-dog sensibility that she expresses with a chalk-on-gravel voice. Her goal is not to assert her own glory, but to rip apart her enemies, which include everyone from liberals and "elites" to, from time to time, even President George W. Bush and presidential hopeful John McCain. Her style of argumentation is bare-bones simple; in a 1997 piece for Salon.com, Eric Alterman wrote that Ingraham just laughed in response to a position he took on television during the 1996 election. How could he counter that?
Ingraham often uses laughter as a weapon. One of her show's most popular parodies, "But ... Monkey," interposes the sound of a screeching monkey over a sound bite from a political figure. Victims have included Democratic senators Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer as well as conservative gurus like columnist Charles Krauthammer. Other regular segments include "Deep Thought of the Day" and "Lie of the Day." Ingraham also makes great use of pop culture clips (she plays the theme song from the television show "Flipper" when discussing John Kerry), and her production values are generally superb. Like many other successful hosts, she is often very funny, and her rapid-fire pacing and easy banter with her younger male producers (all three are in their early 20s) has more in common with the liberal "Stephanie Miller Show" than the hard-line commentary sometimes heard on conservative talk shows. At a deeper level, however, despite the comedy, Ingraham takes what she does quite seriously.
The rabid nature of her assault against immigration reform is a good example. Ingraham has perhaps been more strongly anti-immigration than any other talk personality except Michael Savage. Her show even features a regular segment called "The Illegal Immigration Sob Story" alert, in which she reads news pieces she feels are biased toward illegal immigrants. When she had White House spokesman Tony Snow on her program, she began by asking him why the Bush administration was dragging its heels on immigration reform. After sarcastically apologizing for interrupting his talking points, she said, "69 percent of Americans, 85 percent of the GOP, 55 percent of the Democrats want the border enforced. Does that affect you guys, or do you guys just blow it off?"
In the two-for-one combination that all too often serves conservative radio well, Ingraham once claimed that the immigration bill was an attempt by the mainstream media to make more people liberals. Anyone who still wonders whether talk radio had an influence on the bill's defeat should look at Ingraham's numbers; with more than 5 million weekly listeners, she is tied with Glenn Beck as the fourth most listened to radio talk show host in America. Alterman wrote that Ingraham's popularity is due to her having "something more important than knowledge or experience. ... She has star quality." She is also fearless: She once confronted CNN host John Roberts for calling her "outspoken," saying, "Do you guys introduce liberal commentators that way?"
She's more aggressive than Limbaugh, more blatant than Hannity, and more rational than Beck or Savage, and although she often supports many of them (erroneously stating, for example, that Limbaugh never claimed the Clintons murdered Vince Foster), she is equally willing to call them out. She walked out of a "Hannity & Colmes" installment after the Don Imus "nappy-headed ho's" controversy was twisted into a discussion of Democratic vices, and once asked on her radio program after an appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor," "Why is Bill O'Reilly afraid of George Soros?" (In the same broadcast, Ingraham accused columnist Helen Thomas of working for Hezbollah, which has been identified by the U.S. government as a terrorist group.)
Ingraham was born and raised among the wealthy in Glastonbury, Conn., one of the state's richest suburbs, although her mother worked as a maid to support the family. She went to Dartmouth University and became the first female editor of the conservative Dartmouth Review, where conservative author Dinesh D'Souza, a former boyfriend, also worked. While there, she secretly sent a reporter with a tape recorder to a campus gay students association meeting; she then outed the students in print and sent tapes of the meetings to the students' parents. In the magazine she called association members "cheerleaders for latent campus sodomites." (In 1997, more than a decade later, she wrote an article in the Washington Post detailing how she had changed her views in light of her brother Curtis' coming out as gay.)
After graduating from Dartmouth, she went to work for the White House as a speechwriter; like her peers, conservative radio talkers Mark Levin and Hugh Hewitt, Ingraham began her professional career as a Reagan employee. She also obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia and clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas. In 1995 she appeared on the cover of the New York Times Magazine -- wearing a friend's hip, leopard-print miniskirt -- to illustrate an article about rising young conservatives. She then became both a regular MSNBC pundit and a commentator on the "CBS Evening News," where she once asked Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres if the United States should bomb Libya or Syria in retaliation for a TWA flight explosion whose cause was unknown. Ingraham argues politics the way lawyers argue cases, as if there can be no possible interpretation other than her own. She is a class-A schmoozer who understands and exploits her verbal gifts to the fullest. Her skill for networking, along with her willingness to go for the jugular, has allowed her to break into the boys' club of conservative radio.
In the late 1990s, she briefly hosted her own MSNBC cable television show, "Watch It!" (17 months and three time slots later, she joked that it should have been called "Watch It Get Canceled!"), and then, in 2001, launched "The Laura Ingraham Show" on radio. Ingraham's particular blend of humor and argument apparently translated more effectively on radio than on television, and the Talk Radio Network now syndicates her show on nearly 325 terrestrial stations (it's also available on Sirius and XM satellite radio). She has survived both a breast cancer scare and a broken wedding engagement, and continues to mock the establishment sardonically for three hours daily.
Ingraham has made more than her share of controversial comments, with frequent guest appearances on television affording her as much prominence as her radio work (for someone whose own television show was relatively short-lived, she spends a tremendous amount of time on other people's programs). She's no Neal Boortz, but she's certainly more outrageous than, say, Hugh Hewitt. In one of her most famous incidents, on Election Day 2006 Ingraham encouraged listeners to jam the phone line of a toll-free Democratic Party service for reporting voting problems. No tangible consequences came of it (the Democrats won anyway), but it did put Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy up in arms.
Perhaps the greatest controversy of Ingraham's career, however, came from comments she made about the Iraq War. In March of 2006, Ingraham went on a six-day tour of Iraq, visiting hospitals, orphanages and Iraqi villages. Upon returning to the United States, she appeared on NBC's "Today Show" to criticize the mainstream American media for its unwillingness to report "the truth" of the Iraq situation. She said that NBC had focused on programming "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" and that "to do a show from Iraq means to talk to the Iraqi military, to go out with the Iraqi military, to actually have a conversation with the people instead of reporting from hotel balconies about the latest IEDs going off."
Washington Post writer Jonathan Finer later reported that Ingraham "rarely, if ever, spent a moment outside the protection of U.S. forces or a night outside a military base." Finer compared her experience with that of the Iraq-stationed journalists she criticized, "almost all of whom operate without military protection." While the National Review's Tim Graham applauded Ingraham for bringing out the "facts the media self-defense teams ignore," MSNBC host Keith Olbermann said on his show Countdown that Ingraham had dishonored the memory of the 80 American journalists killed and others kidnapped in Iraq, and that her comment "was not only unforgivable of her, it was desperate and it was stupid."
Ingraham's stance on women's issues is divided at best; around the time of Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court appointment, she joined with a conservative group called Independent Women's Forum that formed a committee to attack and discredit Anita Hill's sexual harassment testimony against Thomas. (Independent Women's Forum's other activities included testifying in Congress for defunding the Violence Against Women Act and against affirmative action.) While she has criticized Fox for gratuitous, sexually explicit programming and helped lead a media campaign against the misogynistic rapper Akon, she also co-hosted a three-part PBS special on "the gender wars," which explored "whether the advancement of women in virtually all areas of society can be achieved without a retreat, in some way, on the part of men." One need not guess where Ingraham, a convert to Roman Catholicism, stands on a woman's right to choose.
Among prominent female political figures, Hillary Clinton in particular provokes Ingraham's ire. Her first book, The Hillary Trap, tried hard to make the case that Clinton was actually setting women's rights back by arguing for special status for them. "The complaints of Western feminists look like petty self-absorption when you line them up against human rights abuses in Third World military dictatorships," Ingraham wrote.
Ingraham also argues that a vocal minority -- the "elites" -- is threatening American values, and they should pipe down for the majority's sake. Elites include anti-war demonstrators and university professors ("It's well known that in the 1960s, leftists conquered the academies"). There is also no love lost between Ingraham and Europeans, who she believes fail to understand and appreciate America's love for "God, guns and the death penalty."
Ingraham's third book, Power to the People, was released on Sept. 11, 2007. The patriotic timing was deliberate; the book is partly memoir but is mostly devoted to annihilating what she calls the "pornification" of America, an increasing cultural tendency toward flaunted sexuality and the loss of traditional values. She calls the book "a rallying cry for common sense and good old-fashioned American ideals of patriotism, family, faith and country," one that encourages people to take matters into their own hands. In its first week, the book ranked third on the Amazon.com best-seller list.
"We are the government," Ingraham said in an interview promoting the book. Controlling people by telling them how to think for themselves is a nice piece of demagogic trickery, though hardly original among the conservative bloc that crowds talk radio today. Ingraham has proved to be a master at such trickery -- and like her or not, she's every bit as funny, as appealing and as dangerous as each of her male peers and friends."

Now back to my thoughts. The guy above called her "The Highpriestess of Hate"
but she has adopted a girl from Guatemala.
Does that sound hate inspired?
http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2008/05/laura_ingraham.php
"Laura Ingraham is a radio talk host worth listening to with her sharp insights intot he state of politics, culture and faith. She is an outspoken Roman Catholic and defender of the pro-life movement. Also a survivor of breast cancer. After years of waiting for the Guatemala adoption process - which her listeners did not know of - she is now a mother"

I think that people misunderstand moral outrage and call it "hate"
I am opposed to illegal immigration and people might take that to mean I hate Mexicans. They are wrong.
I am opposed to gay marriage and people might take that to mean I hate homosexuals. They are wrong.
I am opposed to people voting for (or against) someone based solely on the color of their skin and or religious background and people could take that to mean I am full of hate.
Again, they would be wrong.
--Note I'm not done writing this but for the moment I'm out of time.

Human History 101

I saw this posted on a corkboard at work and I thought it was very funny.

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers.
They lived on deer in the mountain during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.
The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer (or as I would prefer Dr. Pepper) and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to th beer. These were the foundations of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:
1. Liberals, and
2. Conservatives
Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle or the aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That is how villages were formed.
Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservtive movement.
Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQs and doing the sewing, fetchig, and hair dressing. This was the beginnng of the Liberal movement.
Some noteworthy Liberal achievements include the domestcation of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.
Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on erarth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by he jackass.
Mobern liberal like imported beer (with lime added) but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish and prefer their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are all standard liberal fare. An interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud or Miller. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, engineers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern those who work to produce and decide what to o with the production. Liberals believe European are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.
Here ends today's lesson in World History.
It should be noted that a liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it (this message was originally an email)
A conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.
And there you have it.
Let your next action reveal your true self.

Delayed movie reviews

Opportunities for going to the movie theatre are pretty much non-existant or Stephanie and me
but movies I have seen in somewhat recent history I will review a bit.

Terminator, Salvation
My grade: B
John Conner battles machines and cyborgs in a potential future created by man's misuse of an artificial intelligence gone bad and spiteful. Pretty good actually. It didn't try to get into the whole time travel thing and kept it simple. Christian Bale (Conner) was great and the movie flowed well. The twist with the convict who "voluntarily" participates in experimental surgery was predictable, but still satisfying. My only complaint was the impromtu critical medical operation at the end in the middle of a desert without proper sanitation, staff, or equipment. That didn't help me sustain my suspension of disbelief.

Year One
My grade: D
Jack Black and his androgenous pal Michael Cera play two villagers equivalent to cavemen. They are exilled to the outside world and have adventures with people of the Biblical era. It had its moments of humor, but they were inconsistent and sometimes incoherent. I do not unjoy discomfort and gross out humor. I don't mind a little, but this movie had it off the scale at times. The fight between Caine and Abel was amusing but the pranks with Abraham and Issac were in poor form and just not funny. Jack Black is hit and miss with me and this one is a miss. I loved him in School of Rock and Be Kind Please Rewind. In my opinion it is not worth buying or watching.

Four Christmases
My grade: A-
This one surprised me a little, but Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon are excellent together in this one. Vince Vaughn is very hit and miss with me as well but this one is a hit with me for sure. Perhaps it depends greatly on who his co-stars are. His and her families have been split by divorces and they've been avoiding them until they are caught in a lie and have to spend Christmas with all 4 of their father's and mother's re-established units. Stephanie and I had a great time with this one and we laughed profusely.

Star Trek
My grade: A+
The origins of Kirk and Spock and their battle with a time travelling bad dude. The time travelling part is all too familiar for Star Trek plots, but they pull this one of masterfully.
Wow. This one was amazing. Being a fan of the series and some of the movies probably helped me get into it and enjoy it, but the story stands alone enough on its own I think. The commitment to detail was supreme. The actors they cast to do the classic parts of the crew were uncanny in their ability to emulate and embody their parts. Especially that of Karl Urban playing Dr. McCoy. It was as if watching DeForest Kelly reincarnated (but perhaps even better) The only slight I would have against it is that they make Jim Kirk and the cadets full fledged fleet members at the end without completing their training. That I am sure is required and forgivable so that they can set it up for the probably sequel coming forthwith.

Tommy Boy Hanks

originally posted on myspace.com/kbp54

March 16, 2009 - Monday

Its old news but in light of some other things he has more recently taken part in I'm taking a shot at Tom Hanks and his comment that "The Mormon church is un-American" because it backed the movement to not allow gays the marriage right in California. There are some things Tom is unenlightened about. Elder Neil A. Maxwell (modern day Apostle, now deceased . I won't say Mormon Apostle because that implies he is only an Apostle to Mormons. He is one to the world.. but I digress....) He said "To be politically correct is to be incorrect with God." To be an American means to stand up for what you believe in even if it is not popular opinion. It also means to tolerate (but not necessarily embrace) those who do not agree with you. The First Amendment wasn't created to defend those who agree with you, it was created to protect those who didn't. It wasn't just Mormons who voted to deny gays the marriage right. Were all those people un-American too? What must be unterstood is that the practice of homosexuality is unacceptable to Mormons. We will not stand idly by while our beliefs are trampled. The people spoke and they said NO! They said NO more than once! That is the democratic process. Liberals (some more left wing than others) don't seem to want to accept that. Instead they boycott Mormon business and harass Mormons outside our Temples. They are such big fans of free speach and tolerance when it is in their favor but when someone calls into questions their thoughts and desires they seem to go pieces and call us "un-American" Case in point: Liberals want to terminate conserative talk raido (yes, I listen to 104.1 The Truth... give it a try! I am a big Laura Ingraham fan) because as I have said they don't want anyone to question what they do or say or hold them accountable for it. That is fearfully un-American. America is a democratic Republic, NOT a Socialist state and God willing it will remain so. Case in point. During the Presidential campaign McCain said that the fundamentals of the American economy are sound, and later said that he meant the American worker is sound. Obama criticized him for it. But now Obama is essentially saying the same thing... gee there... what is so different now? The fact that you're saying it? Not to be misunderstood I'm not a big fan of McCain either. My preferred candidate didn't make it out of the primaries. While I am on the subject of Obama I want to point out something else disturbing I saw on news clips. Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback) and other black men are quoted (and shown on video) saying that they only voted in this Presidential election because there is a black man running. Isn't that insulting to Barack and to black people? I don't Obama but not because of his race. I have issues with his politics, not skin color. I would have voted for someone like Condolesa (spelling?) Rice but she wasn't what "progressive" people wanted to see in there. (yes I know she isn't a Democrat, but still a black female) I find these statements and actions disturbing because where they heck were they for the other elections? That shows a woeful lack of responsibility and foolishness on their parts. Thats like saying I voted for Mitt Romney just because he is a Mormon. For those out there that might be liberal in at least part of their hearts understand that I respect your views, I just think they are misguided. Real Mormons stopped practicing polygamy when directed by the leaders of the church and the U.S. Government. I believe they handled it with more dignity than I've seen in recent history. Wouldn't that also be a violation of our civil rights as some gays are harping on? We also believe in, quoting the Prophet Joseph Smith "Obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law of the land" (Articles of Faith #11) Does that sound un-American to you? No, I'm not in favor of the practice of polygamy, but I will do as my faith in the Lord dictates, and that includes following the directives of my church leaders and our Prophet. They have my trust. They directed members of the Church to take an active stand against gay marriage. The Church does not involve itself in the politics of the land except on very rare occations... so in that regard we have just witnessed history. My mind also goes back some time ago when a motion to incorporate Saint David as its own town failed and some nut wrote a letter to the Benson paper basically saying that we had a local "cult" to thank for the motion not passing. I can only assume this dingbat meant the Mormon church. Again another person shooting their mouth off is uninformed. There were Mormons on both sides of that fence.I understand that to be a Mormon means to have a target painted on my back, whether literally or otherwise. I also understand that to be a Mormon is to BE a Mormon, and not sit idly by. We must champion the ideals of Christendom and of good morals. We do not do so alone but it must be done by us as well.Also, being a celebrity doesn't make their political views or opinions any more valid than the common man or woman. What it does is make them more accountable for it for good or ill because more people will hear or read what they say. People who base their political opinion or spiritual beliefs on what some dirtbrained popular figure says is just as dirtbrained as that person is. What source of guidance is Hollywood in the matter of political competence or moral authority? Making themselves miserable in the shortest amount of time possible is about all they seem to know how to do. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between. Also, a good part of the world only sees us through what they see Hollywood produce in movies and T.V. if thats all they see then how can they not think thats how we all are. No wonder we are hated by so many. If you want to drive that point home you could say that Hollywood people are un-American because they are tarninshing our image with the filth they spew forth (not all of, I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bath water) I'm going on a bit of a stretch there, but I felt like doing it.That is all for now.

Sign of the time

originally posted on myspace.com/kbp54

March 25, 2009 - Wednesday

As some people have heard, from T.V., etc. there is a "man" giving birth or in acuality has given birth to a baby. I won't bother giving the names, its a fairly well known story on the news.Basically its a woman who has legally changed her status to being a man, removed her breasts, and taken testosterone in large quantities to at least make her appear to be a man. She (I won't call her a man) is in a relationship with an older woman and they are raising the child together. There are ramifications aplenty from such an arrangement. I'll make my thoughts short here with a longer explanation of them to follow here.If this person wanted to be thought of and to legally be a man, then she/he should act like it and accept the fact that she/he got his/her wish and is no longer a woman and cannot or should not act in that capacity. Just because something walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck does NOT make it a duck. The media says its a man giving birth, but in the real sense of it all, she is NOT a man.Why am I writing about it? Because I like to use blogging to throw my thoughts out there as I analyze and reflect on what I see in the world.Now the extra stuff...Some time ago I read about this she/he's situation in People magazine I believe it was. Tracy (as her birth name is) is of islander decent, and was a teenage model. As I recall in the article, which details of I have yet to hear of anywhere else because perhaps they are unsavory to some, this young woman met her now lover/wife when she was still a minor and started her relationship with her around that time frame. The older woman in the relationship, whose name eludes me at the moment, is/was a family friend and at least 20 years older. I don't have an issue with significant age gaps. I do have issues when what I see as abuse being done. i.e. a much older woman starting a homosexual/lesbian relationship with a female minor. It really is immoral.This person (Tracy, who is now called Thomas) wanted to become a man. She/he felt like thats what she should have been, etc. Initally I can understand that even though I do not readily approve of it. Its that person's choice however wrong I may view it to be. Keep in mind that in "A Proclamation to the World" from the leaders of the LDS Church states: "Gender is an essential characteristic of premoral, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose" To me that implies that despite our efforts here, we will be what we were born as, unless there is some special judgement by God. That is His ultimate decision of course. What a shock it will be to 99.9% of transgender people when they are resurrected (as all people will be) to find themselves restored to what particular sex they were when they were born. Michael Jackson is also in for a rude awakening. As Dave Chappele said about Michael "Only in America can a poor black boy grow up to be a rich white woman" Ok, thats a bit crass, but to me its essentially on point. Speaking of which I'll meander my way back to a semblance of one.Despite my misgivings about this unacceptable union of these two people and for Tracy/Thomas' gender reasignment I have an even deeper one. Tracy/Thomas is legally a man, even though she/he still has all her female organs intact (minus her surgically removed breasts). It is she, not the legitimately still female partner, that bore and gave birth to this couples baby. They wanted kids, and the female partner couldn't get pregnant (perhaps because of her advanced age?) so they decided that Tracy/Thomas would get sperm from a bank and take care of that issue. What my real issue with this all is that Thomas who wants to be looked upon and accepted as a man is carrying out the function of life that only women are privy to. If she wanted to be a man then she should have gone the distance and truly accepted her decision to be one. In my mind a person cannot be both. They are either a man, or a woman, with the powers and responsibilities inherent in each sex. It is not in a man's power to grow a baby, and it never will be by divine design. Is this all a sham to get what these two want? How did they ever think that any of this would be acceptable to people? They have recieved death threats and harrassing communications. I'm not abdicating that, but I question their thoughts and motives and actions. I find it all sick and offensive.A person could ask me "Don't they deserve to be happy, or to do what they think will make them happy?" To that I would say yes, but I would also say that there is a right way to do things, and a wrong way to do things. I would also say that if you don't feel inclined to be with a member of the opposite sex don't go through the motions of becoming a member of the opposite sex and then go back on it when its convienient to get what you want.That would be like me having my man parts surgically removed so I could legally go watch women in the shower because women are still what I prefer to be attracted to.Also I think of Alma 41:10 (Book of Mormon) "Wickedness never was happiness" and I believe it was President Monson who said "You cannot do wrong and feel right"It is also a sign of the time, as this blog's topic is. The scriptural reference eludes me at this time but as was foretold, in the last days it will become hard to distinguish men from women and women from men. I think this situation fills that to a T.

I don't buy the hype

originally posted on myspace.com/kbp54

April 25, 2009 - Saturday

The issue is global warming.I'm no expert and I'm not the best informed but I've heardsome reports that make me think the whole panic of globalwarming is bunko. Of course I welcome counter points here.What I heard on Michael Savage's radio show, from a scientist(name escapes me again) is that for the past 10,000 years the sun has been in a "cool down stage" meaning its not been burning as hot.We're a bit on the rise now, but they project that it will begin cooling down again in the near future.What I found most enlightening about what this man said was this:from the year 1700 to 1735 the world's temperature increased by 4 degrees.From the year 1900 to 2000 (the twentieth century) it has only increased by 1.3 degrees. What does this mean? That we as humans in reality have very little control on what goes on climate wise on this earth. Think about it. All the polution that we've made since the industrial revolution hasn't really made an effect on this planet's climate. Nature does enough of that on its own. Conversely I don't think any efforts we do will do anything to change nature from doing what it wants anyway. Its just windowdressing in my opinion.I'm also sure most of us have heard about the Black Plague. Some would attribute that to the what is called "The Little Ice Age" sometime around 1300. I'm not going to bother researching dates. It was the bubonic plague, spread by the fleas of rats and mice, etc. The drop in temperature forced them to reside even closer to their human counterparts. Why do I bring this up? Before this time period grapes were able to be grown in Southern England (the Romans did it) and they are not able to be now. The little ice age drove the Vikings out of their northern homes and forced them to integrate with European society. The bottom line is that this great change was only a few hundred years ago, and it had a drastic effect on humanity. Millions starved, froze to death, and died of plague. The earth will do what it will regarding its own climate. Us trying to change it is as effective and trying to rope the wind.Also, don't forget the same man who started this global warming paranoia frenzy (Al Gore) is also the same man who claimed to have invented the internet. While he did help organize the effort and get the ball rolling for it, he didn't actually invent it. How reliable do we think he is?I also read an article in The National Geographic about ice bridges in the Niagra Falls area. While they have experienced some thawing they, according to their own reports, do not expect any significant warming within the next 50 years, and perhaps even a cooling off. So, as I said, I'm not buying the hype. At least not yet.One point I do want to clarify is that while I'm not sold on this theory of global warming, I am perfectly in favor of our efforts to be more enviromentally friendly. We should have more energy and fuel effecient cars/homes/etc. It just makes sense. Recycling isn't really feasible but it makes some people feel better to do it and it might make some small difference so what the hay, let them do it. Right now I think its more trouble than its worth to expend the energy and resources to recycle but I'm not really informed about that. Its a good idea, and with some work it will work efficiently.Car batteries, old oil, and some other products should definately be recycled or at least disposed of properly.